The Covid-19 pandemic has forced all companies to change, even those that had already integrated remote work into their culture.

Daniella Bonança, head of talent acquisition in Latin America at multinational agrochemical and seed company Syngenta, spoke to Workana during its #RemoteandLive series about some of the success stories and how some innovations might be permanent.

Here’s what she had to share.

1. Remote work should no longer be just a job perk

Even before the beginning of the pandemic, Syngenta already had a remote work policy in place that allowed administrative professionals to work remotely twice a week.

Despite remote work not being an obligatory benefit, the company has always been flexible about its remote work policy because it understands that not everyone has the best conditions to make it work.

According to Bonança, the company’s biggest challenge when implementing a home office culture was creating empowerment in managing people and transforming it into a reliable process that could increase everyone’s daily productivity.

There was a huge change management effort to show that remote work has a positive impact and creates a better work-life balance for employees.

At the time, employees who had never imagined they would be able to work from home began to embrace the new reality of remote work.

This can be a big challenge for manufacturing administrative teams who are used to being governed by traditional roles, processes and project management. Employees also find themselves in difficult situations, such as not having a stable WiFi connection for work and school.

Hence, it is essential to understand that people are simultaneously working and dealing with other challenges from home – and that people cannot necessarily work the same way.

To support employees, Syngenta has provided tools, tutorials and programmes to make the adjustment smoother. Online mindfulness, yoga and stretching classes, and even happy hours, help lighten the mood.

One of Syngenta’s biggest discoveries during this time was understanding that leaders have to be flexible and understand that not everyone’s work conditions are the same.

For Bonança, this was a great opportunity to establish trust and shift to a results-oriented mindset, moving away from a need to have control over everyone and everything and, instead, identifying priorities and trusting in the teams’ deliverables. Remote work teams require leaders to fully trust them.

Furthermore, it is essential to have the flexibility and understand that schedules may change in comparison to the usual nine to five work routine during this time period.

2. Take processes online wherever possible

With a regimented plan for selection processes, new employee integration, trade shows and events, everything had to be revised and reinvented. In record time, the company achieved milestones that became success stories and opportunities for the future.

The first success was taking the admission, onboarding and hiring processes 100% online.

During this time, HR led two virtual group dynamics focused on internal recruitment with 10 candidates, four managers and the HR Business Partner team. This process would have cost about US$10,000 using the traditional method, but taking this process online cost the company nothing.

In addition to the financial benefit, this process brought agility to the company because people did not have to leave their homes and travel to a common location with everyone involved in the event. And it has never been easier to adjust everyone’s schedules for the same day.

Another example of a Syngenta success story is its Sales Kick-off event. Between participants and content producers, over 2,000 employees are involved in this seeds and crop protection event.

But with quarantine this year, it was transformed into a virtual event in less than three weeks, giving more people the opportunity to participate and check out the strategic direction content.

They used tools such as Zoom for presentations with a lot of interaction from all participants, who also had the support of WhatsApp to interact and send photos during the virtual event.

3. Learn for the future

“When you’re open to ideas, an expanded mind doesn’t revert back to how it was before,” Bonança said.

All these actions taken by the company will allow it to blaze new trails, and this shift will be permanent in every event that the company holds. There have been several transformed events and in the future, these events will become the new normal.

Every success story serves as an experience to better direct the company’s resources.

Syngenta is already researching a hybrid event to increase team building and the feeling of belonging among employees who can participate in this annual company event.

When this period ends, everyone will have to transform the learning process and optimise the use of time and money.

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